Learning intention: Identify what media representation is, and why it is important to individuals and communities.

As an individual exercise, ask students to quietly reflect on any screen content they viewed in the past day. This could include television, film, YouTube or social media clips.

Now ask students to think about the people and communities depicted in this media: were trans or gender diverse people included? Were any people of certain communities or backgrounds overrepresented? Were these communities represented accurately? If not, what implications might this have for individuals or society? 

View the following series of clips as a class, allowing time for student responses and questions between each video. These interview responses show First Day Lead Actress Evie Macdonald and Writer / Director / Co-producer Julie Kalceff reflecting on the audience and purpose of the series, and the importance of authentic storytelling and representation.

Julie Kalceff responds to: Why did Hannah’s story begin in Series 1 with her starting a new school?

Evie Macdonald responds to: What was your input during the scriptwriting stage?

Julie Kalceff responds to: Does a screen story have to appeal to everyone to be worth telling?

‘Media representation’ means the ways in which the media represents people, communities, places, experiences and ideas from a particular point of view. Some groups and perspectives are represented in our media more than others.

Due to myriad factors, marginalised communities have been underrepresented in screen media since its inception. Explain to students that representation of individuals and characters with diverse gender identities is improving, but their stories are still seriously underrepresented. In fact, First Day lead actress Evie Macdonald (who plays Hannah Bradford) was the first transgender actor to play a lead role in an Australian scripted television series.

Explain to students that more and more transgender characters are appearing on screen, particularly in adult drama, but the tendency in the past has been to cast a cisgender man in the role of a transgender woman. Casting a cis male in the role of a trans girl or woman is not an authentic portrayal of a trans woman. It reinforces the ignorant and misinformed notion that a trans woman is really a man and that being trans is about cross-dressing. Trans voices are crucial in telling authentic stories about trans characters.

To build understandings of what media representation means and why it is so important, ask students to reflect on and discuss representations of their age group or year level in screen stories. Do representations reinforce any positive or negative stereotypes about young people? How does it feel when you see your identity reflected inauthentically? What would you change about these screen representations if you could?

Working in pairs, have students select one or more of the following statements about media representation to explore through reflection, discussion and online research if time permits.

• Seeing relatable characters on screen is affirming and empowering for all people.
• The media can influence personal attitudes, beliefs, decisions and behaviours.
• By representing human diversity as a part of everyday life, the media can play a role in dispelling negative stereotypes and misconceptions.
• LGBTQIA+ storytellers bring unique and authentic perspectives to their work.

Students could share their learning and perspectives in a short Q&A interview about stories on screen. This could be shared with the class through an oral presentation, or as a podcast if voice recording equipment is available.

As a reflection on this lesson or the complete learning resource, ask students to share one message they took away after viewing First Day. This could include something students learnt, a scene they enjoyed or something they were left wondering about.

Review and critically examine these responses as a class, highlighting for students the learnings that relate to representation of gender diversity or media representation. Ask students to identify any common themes in their peers’ responses. Which strategies might the filmmakers have used to position the audience and elicit these responses? (For example, the narrative point of view, or dialogue and gestures intended to persuade viewers or build empathy.)